Thread: My experience with the BBW

OK, took the same razor back to the BBW with water and slurry ( Dilicot method ). 100 or more passes.
Then 50 spine leading with water, then 50 dry spine leading.
50 passes on Russian Tanned, 50 on Shell. A peek thru the 30X loupe, and the scratch pattern is very close to my B/G Escher. TPT good HHT good, shave test in the morning. I'm thinking its going to be a little better than off the Coti, but I'm not counting chickens.

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

What is a leaded strop? Pasted?

I rub lead on a linen strop, like Cr/Ox, or diamond paste/ spray. It polishes the apex quite well. I only do this after a fresh honing, its leather only after that.
Its been used for years as a gentle medium, for polishing and refining a good shaving edge. I too questioned this, till I tried it.

Interesting! Thanks, it opens up a door of possibility. I wonder if powdered graphite or a silver pencil, etc., might work similarly. Ferric oxide pigment, and other pigments, I've already played around with.

I had a wonderful shave last night.
Took a torrey razor that already had a set bevel and did the following

Back and forth on yellow coticule approx 3 sets of 20 strokes
Some x strokes on yellow, until edge felt smoother.
Went to bbw did some back and forth strokes
Then some x strokes
I finished with the spine lead circles.

So I pretty followed the original post and got good results. Shave was nice and smooth, no burn. I didn't use oil to finish as I already know that works. Always has.

Again this was with a dry combo coticule.

This mornings shave was definitely smother and more comfortable than yesterday's, off the BBW

I'd have to agree that its better/keener than the Coti, well let's say it improves the edge from the Coti, greatly. And I feel the dry, spine leading strokes are worth doing. IMHO

I may hone a couple other blades this way, for comparison.

I don't think this is better than the coticule side. It just works.

I will finish dry on the coticule and compare.

My understanding is that the BBW stone is much slower with a less concentration of garnets. BBW also average larger sized garnets than the coticule and actually cut less deeper than the smaller more aggressive garnets on the yellow coticule. i am sure this has to vary from stone to stone but if the right approach is used one might be able through lighter pressure and the stones slower cutting qualities be able to get extra refinement out of an edge if the right honing attitude is applied. Just a thought on why some have much better finishing results on bbw stones. But it could just be a stone specific experience.

This is very interesting - BBW is much cheaper than the coti.
I'm wondering if skipping the coticule altogether would be a viable strategy.

Originally Posted by malaverdiere

This is very interesting - BBW is much cheaper than the coti.
I'm wondering if skipping the coticule altogether would be a viable strategy.

Maybe if you get one that will finish razor well. They wont have as much cutting power generally speaking as a yellow coti. The cream and yellow veins of coticule are thin and quite rare compared to the BBW stone which is found in abundance surrounding those slivers of golden goodness. Its fairly obvious why the price is cheap for a bbw its practically building material.

Originally Posted by malaverdiere

This is very interesting - BBW is much cheaper than the coti.
I'm wondering if skipping the coticule altogether would be a viable strategy.

But what would you be coming off of , before the BBW.

I did something similar, believe it was a barber hone before the Coti. I like to play on different rocks, looking for weird progressions.

The one on this thread has been interesting, to say the least, but rewarding as well. But I don't think I want to do it dry, from start to finish.